They're critically endangered.
- In addition to having distinctive fingerprints like humans do, gorillas also have unique nose prints.
- Gorillas are the largest of the great apes, but the western lowland gorilla is the smallest of the subspecies.
- Because of poaching and disease, the gorilla’s numbers have declined by more than 60% over the last 20 to 25 years. Even if all of the threats to western lowland gorillas were removed, scientists calculate that the population would require some 75 years to recover.
Sources: The Smithsonian WWF
